It’s Game On for the 2015 Hobie® Kayak Bream Australian Championship

Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia, Saturday October 22, 2015
The 2015 Hobie Kayak Bream Series Australian Championship by Daiwa is officially underway! 49 anglers took off from the Power-Pole start line in near perfect conditions this morning for the first of two days of hard fought competition.

At the end of what was a difficult first day for many, a third of the field still managed to return with full bags of 4 bream. Ultimately, it was Joel Crosbie, from Victoria who was the TT Lures Leader of the Day with 4 bream for 2.46kg. Crosbie was followed closely by, fellow Victorian, Mitch King with 4 for 2.38.KG and Mark Young from New South Wales is currently in 3rd place on today’s Lowrance Leaderboard with 4 bream for 2.29kg.

After rigging their tackle and kayaks, anglers wheeled their Hobie Pro Angler 14’s down to the Atomic Launch site ready to give it their all. When the tournament director called “Power-Poles Up” 49 kayaks took off from the line in a shotgun start.

Competitors had a reprieve from yesterday’s winds allowing many to travel that little bit further without being caught short with a longer than expected pedal at the end of the session. They spread out across the arena, with many anglers working Swansea flats while others went looking further afield.

Anglers were given an additional thirty minutes on the water and key tags were due back on the key tag board by 2:30pm. Once all anglers were safely back on shore with their key tags checked in, the weigh in procedure commenced.

With 500 grams separating the top 5 and with the amount of talent on the water it’s still anyone’s game and a good day tomorrow could scoop the title for more than a few of the field. Crosbie TT Lures Leader of the day was happy with his day one performance but was ultimately just happy to be here.

“I worked out a pattern at about 11:30 and I got one in the well, then as soon as the wind picked up I took that pattern and I tried it out on four different spots and I got fish off each one. The wind looks like it’s going to be much the same tomorrow so hopefully that will work for me again.

Whatever happens though it doesn’t matter. If I doughnut, it doesn’t matter, I’ve still had a great weekend. A good finish is just a bonus”.

Mitch King, from Victoria had a rough start to the day but put the hard yards in and is now sitting in second position at the end of the first session.

“I actually had a really foul start to the day, dropped a couple of really good fish and got busted off on rocks but over all it came out alright. There was no set pattern or technique. I pulled fish off boats, flats, weeds and rocks. You just really had to work hard, I probably did about 25km round trip, my legs are jelly but I’m looking forward to tomorrow and I’ll probably just do it all again”.

King also picked up the Day One Hog’s Breath Cafe, Boss Hog Big Bream Award with his 1.05kg bream that earned him $250 dollars for his efforts! However, he was less than keen to reveal the location and weapon of choice that earned him his kegger. Maybe he’ll let us know tomorrow.

The day finished with the Australian Championship dinner where anglers took a short break from the competition to kick back and have a laugh before doing it all again tomorrow.

The 2015 Hobie Kayak Bream Series Australian Championship would not be possible without the great support of our tournament sponsors Daiwa, Lowrance, Berkley, Rhino-Rack, Atomic, Strike Pro, TT Lures, Ecogear, Austackle, Power-Pole, Yamatoyo, Mortgage Corp, Hogs Breath Cafe and ABT.